Considering the length of this route and the fact that this ICE as a very late arrival at Lucknow, isn't it better to have an overnight alternative b/w Patna and Lucknow?
Sometimes I feel IR takes weird decisions. We have currently two overnight trains serving Lucknow and Gorakhpur, an overnight service for Lucknow Varanasi and heck, even an overnight service towards Allahabad. All of these routes are sufficed by intercity trains.
...
more...
On the other hand, this route can NOT handle an ICE train(ie. until the speed is upgraded to 130 kmph in the future) and desperately needs an over night service. But IR is more intent on running empty services b/w Lucknow and Chhapra than b/w Lucknow - Patna.